


Idle Gossip

by ArtemisRae



Series: 31 Days Drabbles [30]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Canon - Manga, Community: 31_days, Gen, Missing Scene, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-07
Updated: 2008-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-05 11:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisRae/pseuds/ArtemisRae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pinako and Hohenheim discuss everything and nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Idle Gossip

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Livejournal community 31_days, with the theme: motionless at 9:10, freezing time when it happened.

* * *

They like to sit outside and smoke when he visits, relaxing on the rocking chairs out on the front balcony, watching from above as the country sun dips below the horizon. Sometimes they stay out there until they can finally see the silver moon slipping over the peak of the roof, and it is always then that Pinako finally drags herself to bed, knowing that she'll have customers banging down the door in the morning.  
   
           Hohenheim pulls his chair close to the edge of the porch and props his feet up on the rails, stretching himself languidly between the chair and gate like a lion, the small puffs rising from his pipe constant and comforting. Pinako herself curls up in her own chair, sitting cross-legged like a wise man waiting to dispense advice, and they can stay that way for hours whether or not they're filling the time with conversation or simply amiable silence.  
   
           Tonight is one of those nights – he doesn't need to ask how she's doing since George died and how she's handling Urey going off to school, because he already knows, and she knows better than to ask what he's been up to, because she'll _never_ know – and so they sit and let the late summer winds and the creaking of the rocking chairs do the speaking for them.  
   
           It's when the sky is orange and the sun is a sliver on the horizon that Hohenheim finally breaks the quiet. "Who is that?" he asks Pinako, gesturing slightly with his pipe.  
   
           Pinako squints. There's a lithe figure walking up the path past her home, a sweater slung over one elbow and a basket of apples balanced on the other. "That's the neighbor girl, Trisha." Pinako informs him, her interest come and gone and returned to the rapidly darkening sky once again. "She's a little older than Urey. They used to run around sometimes when they were little."  
   
           "Hmm," Hohenheim answers, and falls back into silence.  
   
           Pinako considers that the end of the subject.

* * *


End file.
